


since there's no place to go

by kairiolette



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 10:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2649374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kairiolette/pseuds/kairiolette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin and Haru share a bath for the first time. (day 1 prompt: firsts)</p>
            </blockquote>





	since there's no place to go

Haru’s fingers, pink at the tips and white around the knuckles, curl around his mug, pressing numbly against what should be scalding hot. His other hand holds his playing cards.

  
Rin, across the coffee table from him, has been wearing a frown all day, from the moment they woke up in bed to a foot of snow outside and barely any heat circulating Haru’s apartment. His cheeks are red from the cold; he looks at Haru dully, flashing him a single card, face-forward, wedged between his two fingers. A Queen?

  
“Go fish,” Haru says, a faint silver puff of air leaving his mouth as he speaks. Instead of fishing, Rin drops his forehead onto the tabletop, the impact vibrating cacophonously through their near-empty tea mugs.

  
“This apartment complex should go out of business,” Rin grumbles, finally lifting his head only to slam his cards down in its place, wrapping his arms around his body. Haru’s pretty sure that’s the eleventh time he’s said some variation of that so far.

  
Not two hours ago, Rin had forced Haru on the phone to talk to his landlord; in his sleepy state, Haru picked up various words including “blizzard,” “electricity,” and “complications;” all of which were reiterated to him four thousand times by a cranky, shivering Rin after he hung up the phone.

  
“Do you have any twos?” Haru asks, pressing his cold lips into the collar of his hoodie. Rin glares.

“I’m done playing,” he says, stretches his legs out under the table so his cold, socked feet tuck under Haru’s shins. “I can’t feel my nose.”

  
Haru reaches over to pinch it; Rin ducks his head out of the way.

  
“Stop complaining.”

  
Rin doesn’t. “We’ve been in bed all day, and now we’ve been playing cards for hours,” he lets his chin settle against the table; this position only emphasizes his pout. “What should we do?”

  
Haru busies himself with stacking the array of playing cards into neat decks. “We can keep playing cards.”

  
“Don’t wanna.”

  
Haru huffs; _he just wants to stop because he’s losing_. He starts to stick the cards in their little box, then brightens like the lightbulb that flickers on in his head: “We can watch the documentary I downloaded about the complexity of deep sea ecosystems and their inhabitants.”

  
“We can do that later.”

  
“We can have sex,” Haru suggests, knowing that there’s usually only one answer to that. Today, Rin gives pause, but ultimately twists his lips.

  
“Not in the mood.”

  
Haru can understand that, though; they haven’t even watched the documentary yet. But that had been his last resort, so he places the box of cards in the center of the coffee table between he and Rin, and he begins to heave himself up.

  
“I’m taking a bath, then,” he announces.

  
“That’s a good idea,” Rin agrees, suddenly all smiles, as he starts to push himself to sit on his knees.

  
“You’ll have to wait until I’m done,” Haru says, cautiously eyeing Rin’s mischievous grin.

  
“Can’t we take one together?” he realizes he sounds very unabashedly hopeful, Haru can tell, because he clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck, “We’ve never done that before.”

  
Haru looks down at Rin, whose eyes are wide and face upturned excitedly. He’s wearing two sweaters, one of which is Haru’s, and the tip of his nose is a rosy pink.

  
“Fine,” Haru says, like, twist his rubber arm. He never really minds indulging even the simplest of Rin’s many romantic fantasies, if only to tease him ruthlessly about them later.

  
Just as he expects, Rin springs to his feet with lifted spirits, starting off to the bathroom with a triumphant laugh, already sliding his arms out from his hoodie.

  
“I’ll show you the true meaning of a bubble bath, Haru!” he teases over his shoulder, smiling blindingly back at Haru before disappearing past the bathroom door.

  
Haru heaves a troublesome sigh—he’s giving up his staple solitary soaking hour for a _bubble bath_ —but then, of course, he follows Rin into the bathroom.

  
-

The soles of Haru’s feet feel frozen against the tiles of the floor and Rin stands naked before him, shaking and covering his undoubtedly shrunken testicles with a bottle of body wash. Haru has no bubbly soap but Rin, of course, has a tub of it in his overnight bag—the strawberry-scented, bright pink container stands out more than Rin’s nipples in Haru’s bland bathroom. Haru isn’t in any better shape; he clenches his fists at his sides to keep his shoulders from shivering. Rin had suggested that they get in the bath before letting the hot water run.

  
_“It’s more fun this way,”_ he had argued, grinning broadly and conspiratorially and like he was fourteen years old again. Now, he pushes Haru toward the empty and thus uninviting tub. “You get in first.”

  
Haru glares at him before stepping over the side of the tub, forcing himself to crouch down against the hard surface that feels no different than ice to his skin. He’s too cold to lean back all the way; he sits curled with his arms holding his knees to his chest. Rin follows him, shivering all the way in what probably is a mix of coldness and childish eagerness. He twists the faucet, starting up their bath with a creak of metal and a subsequent rush of steaming water, before he sits with his back to Haru, right on top of Haru’s feet and ankles and off of the icy floor of the tub. This doesn’t impress Haru but he allows it, squeezing his legs closer to his body.

  
If Haru closes his eyes, he can fantasize that he is sitting before some rare waterfall of warmth in what must be a tundra; he keeps them open and has nowhere to look but forward at Rin. Rin’s goosebumped shoulders are drawn up to his ears, and one of his hands still grips the bubble soap. His head is turned just enough that Haru can see the curved apple of his cheek—he’s smiling, still.  
“You have a lot of goosebumps,” Haru remarks, just to get Rin’s attention, and he lightly drags his pinky across the top of Rin’s shoulder and up to the nape of his neck. A shiver ripples through Rin’s body in his finger’s wake.

  
"Hey," he barks, brings a hand up to rub over where Haru touched, snarling back at him. Haru rests his chin on his knee. When Rin turns forward, he “haah”s out a puff of hot air onto the nape of Rin’s neck in somewhat of an apology, but that just makes him shudder even worse.

  
"Don’t do that either," Rin growls as Haru smiles to himself. He doesn’t have time to torment Rin any further, though, because just then Rin jerks back with a gasp, crowding against Haru’s knees. Haru peers over Rin’s shoulder; the water has already reached his toes.

  
“Too hot?” Haru asks, eager to feel it, though he never really cared for hot baths before.

  
"I can’t really tell,” he replies, still pushing back against Haru, “My toes are numb."

  
Haru eases himself back against the wall of the tub behind him, allowing himself to get used to the stinging cold in order to make more room. He lets his head rest against the hard tile behind him.

  
"Ow," Rin growls, lifting his feet out of the water to rest on either side of the tub, pressing further back against Haru’s shins as if to retreat from the oncoming water. Haru wonders—why didn’t Rin just get in the tub first, if he’s going to be this way? He wonders a lot about Rin.

  
"Only complain about one temperature at a time," he scowls, just as the hot water finally starts to breach his own, gradually-thawing feet.

  
“I’m going to add the bubbles, now,” Rin replies instead, unable to mask his giddiness as he scoots toward the faucet, hissing as boiling water splashes against him. A fruity, tangy aroma blends with the thick steam as Rin squeezes sticky pink soap into the tub by the running water; the stench makes Haru wrinkle his nose, but he otherwise tolerates it. He recognizes the smell; Rin must use it regularly, probably even takes his own secret bubble baths without Haru knowing.

  
Before Rin can move back Haru spreads his legs out, planting his feet in the shallow water against the sides of the tub and reaching out to grasp Rin’s hips, guiding him between his legs after he puts away the bubble soap. Rin’s back against his chest is like a blanket, and Haru thinks he can start to feel warm, like this. His arms wrap around Rin’s waist, and when he presses the cold tip of his nose against the space behind Rin’s ear, Rin jumps and shudders against him. He cups warm water in his hands and rubs it into Haru’s forearms, though the water instantly goes cool against his skin.

  
"That just made them colder," he mumbles, and Rin chuckles, lolling his head back against Haru’s shoulder, covering Haru’s hands with his own. He wriggles against Haru’s chest again.

  
“Your nipples are stabbing my back,” he grumbles, arching forward as best as he can though Haru’s arms pull him back, and Haru lifts a hand to flick Rin’s nipple in retaliation. He splutters and squirms, then turns a grin against the curve of Haru’s jaw.

  
“Trying to start something? Huh? Haru?” he teases, bringing Haru’s hand back against his chest and holding it there. Haru leans his cold nose against the side of Rin’s face.

  
“We’re not doing anything in the bathtub,” he declares, like Rin’s not the only one who needs convincing. Rin laughs, cuddling back against Haru with a contented smile.

  
“I told you, I don’t even want to,” he says, sliding down against Haru’s chest so his temple rests against the crook of Haru’s neck. Rin’s eyes slip shut when Haru feels the tickling flutter of eyelashes against his skin. He finds himself realizing that this isn’t the first time he has felt Rin’s eyelashes, of all things, on his skin—a peculiar detail, but thinking about it makes the wait for the tub to fill half as excruciating.

  
Bubbly water finally submerges their legs, and the steam has brought the room temperature up enough to still their shivering shoulders, to almost lull them to sleep. Haru would have thought that Rin had dozed off if it weren’t for his hand rubbing idly against the underside of Haru’s thigh where it sticks out of the water. When he shifts, Rin’s hair sticks to him in ticklish wet clumps.

  
“This was a good idea, right?” Rin asks, drowsy. The scent of the strawberry bubble soap has largely been replaced by the presence of the bubbles themselves; heaps of white foam growing higher and drifting closer to Rin and Haru as the water fills the tub nearly halfway. Haru can’t see his feet at the opposite end of the tub but he feels them tangled with Rin’s. He responds with a kiss against Rin’s head, against his damp hair.

  
Rin perks up at that, lifting his hand back to grope his dripping fingers down Haru’s cheek until he grips his chin. He returns the kiss, lips lingering against the corner of Haru’s mouth, and when he pulls back Haru chases them with his own for a proper one.

  
Rin sighs into Haru’s mouth, tilting his head up, curling his hand back around Haru’s head and then dragging it down to cradle his jaw. The angle is off but as they kiss Haru forgets he had ever been cold—he feels feverish, even; his face flushes red hot as Rin’s lips slides against his own. His elbows tense at Rin’s sides, drawing him closer, just as Rin scoots back to kiss him better, pressing too close between Haru’s legs.

  
“Too hot,” he pants against Rin’s open mouth, breaking away as his thighs clamp around Rin’s waist. He lets his head fall back against the wall, breathing heavily. Rin seems to agree; he carefully turns on his side between Haru’s legs, pressing his warm cheek against Haru’s collarbone and letting his arms come around Haru’s waist.

  
“Well, we’re going to be freezing when we get out,” he laughs into Haru’s chest, barely audible over the running water.

  
“Then we’ll stay in,” Haru decides, drawing his fingers back through Rin’s hair, and for a while they do.


End file.
